old friends new lives
by MTT-Brand
Summary: Jupiter and Looker team up to get rid of Team Galactic once and for all. Emma isn't particularly pleased. (X-posted on ao3. If there are any formatting issues, please let me know ASAP!)
1. Chapter 1

"Emma?"

I stuffed another spoonful of Lucky Charms into my mouth and lifted my head, meeting Looker's eyes for the first time that morning. He was sitting across from me, his hand running over the scratches in the worn wooden table, his face even more lined than usual.

"What's up, Mr. Looker?" I said cheerfully. "You look upset. You should be happy! You're finally back in Kalos with me. It's been seven whole months, you know."

He smiled wearily and nodded. "Yes, Emma, darling, I know. I'm very happy to be back. But you know the only reason I'm here is because I'm picking up a new mission."

"Yeah, I know, so you're going to be doing boring-boring work again -"

"I'm not finished!" Looker said with a laugh, though his face settled quickly back into the tired look from before. "We're working on a case that's very unique."

"Okay. Can you tell me about it?" I asked eagerly, shoving my cereal aside so aggressively I nearly sent it flying off the table. "Can I help? I want to help! I solved almost nine cases on my own when you were gone, you know."

Looker's smile turned into a more genuine one as he answered me. "Yes, well, this looks rather difficult. I don't think just you and I can solve it alone."

"Tell me tell me tell me!" I practically yell. This time I start bouncing in my chair, causing the table to shake and the cereal bowl to actually fall off the edge of its wooden surface. "Oops."

I ran to grab paper towels off the counter as Looker began to carefully describe the mission to me. "Well, perhaps you remember Team Galactic."

"I do!" I dropped to the ground, about twelve paper towels in my fists, and began wiping up the marshmallow-dotted mess on the floor.

"So... they've kind of disbanded. Or so we thought. But now they appear to be teaming up with the remnants of Flare and - do you need help, Emma?"

"No, I'm good! Go on!"

His smile softened a bit more and he continued. "Alright. So they're trying to form something new. Right now, we need to figure out more about the workings of Team Galactic, and how Saturn might carry out this whole thing. So we're bringing in an expert."

A whole new emotion flashed briefly across his face, something like pain and regret. "Do you remember me talking about a certain character named Jupiter?"

I stood, clutching the soaking paper towels with a scrunched-up expression as I tried to remember. "Ummm... You mentioned her once." He also seemed desperate to get her over with very quickly. Up until now I had just assumed she wasn't important, but maybe the reason he skipped over her was because she was.

"Ah. Oh, um, well, you see, she was a commander of Team Galactic, and we're going to need her help. She'll understand everything going on there. We wanted to try and get Mars, the other remaining commander no longer directly associated with the team, but she's since passed away, so we can't." Under his breath, he added, "Would have been a hell of a lot easier if we could just have her instead."  
"Oh no! What happened to her? Poor Mars," I said with a sigh, dropping the soggy mass of paper and milk into the tiny trash can beside the fridge. "She seemed quite nice when you described her, if a bit unstable."

"Unstable was what got her. Suicide, or so we think. But that's not what's important. Jupiter is coming to help us out."

"Mmkay. When?"

Looker gazed off into space.

"Looker, when?"

"Today."

"Oh. Okay! What's she like? Is she nice?"

Looker chuckled to himself. "Nice isn't exactly the word, Emma. She's got a charismatic way, but she's very manipulative. And cruel. And cold. But she's rather inappropriate at times, so I encourage you to ignore anything she says that might be a bit less PG."

He rambled on about her for a while, a stupid grin on his face despite the fact he was listing her flaws, while I finished cleaning up the kitchen. I even left the room and he didn't notice.

Ah, Looker. This is the way he gets with women. Going on and on and on and on about them, admiring from afar with a dreamy look, and getting horrifically rejected after he tries some dumb trick with flowers. Jupiter just sounded like another stupid crush to me.

* * *

He smartened up a bit around two in the afternoon, shaving and changing into the jacket he used to wear for missions in the Sinnoh region (for old time's sake, he claimed). As the clock ticked closer to three he began pacing back and forth in the small apartment, stroking his chin and mumbling to himself while my Espurr, Mimi, ran after him excitedly, squeaking her head off.

Finally, there was a knock at the door, and poor Looker paled to the point where he looked almost ghostly.

"Emma, get the door," he muttered. "No, I'll get the door. No, ah, just, let me do it!"

Before he could rush to open the door a sharp, ever-so-slightly raspy voice called out in a Kalosian accent. "Looker, darling, I know you're there! Open up, love, I've missed you."

"Love? Darling? Looker, what is she talking about?" I said, tilting my head and running after him. He laughed nervously and flung open the door so quickly it whacked against the wall, creating a large BANG that made the woman standing on the doormat flinch.

Her lipsticked smile was one that I sort of recognized in that I saw it in myself sometimes - the 'oh, Looker, you bumbling idiot, I love you anyway' smirk that I prayed didn't appear as mean when I did it. Her bright purple hair was short and choppy. The glimmer in her eyes was one you might see in a cat who's hunted down the mouse that's been evading it for weeks. Her outfit was a bit of a stereotypical Kalosian look - a cheap-looking black skirt that was far too short and a simple black-striped white t-shirt. But what really struck me was her height. I think she must have been over six feet, so she towered over Looker and I. The general effect was terrifying.

I didn't like her one bit.

"Arceus, Looker, relax!" she laughed, leaning against the doorframe. "A nervous wreck, just like always."

Looker mumbled something incoherent and blushed.

"Well, what a charming little place you have here," she said, her catlike eyes scanning the place as if for something to criticise. The first thing she saw that she clearly disliked was me.

"And, ah, who's the little girl?"

"Emma, say hello," Looker said distractedly.

"Hi! I'm Emma. You're Jupiter, right? It's good to meet you!" I said as politely as I could, sticking out a hand for her to shake it. She just laughed.

"Adorable! You have her well trained, my dear. But is she not a bit young?"  
Looker's blush only deepened. "I'm her caregiver, not her, um, partner!"

"I'm just joking, Looker. She's, ah, fourteen? Whatever. You've hardly said hello!"

Jupiter leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a purple lipstick stain on his reddening skin. "It's so good to see you again, darling."  
"It's lovely to see you too," Looker whispered, utterly starstruck. The two stared at each other for a bit, one in wonder and the other in amusement, until I finally stepped in and offered to let Jupiter enter the apartment.

"Oh, thank you, Emma. Yes, um, come in, Jupiter," Looker said, breaking eye contact to help her move her small duffel bag into the front room. "I would have put you up in a hotel, but we're rather strapped for cash, so we'll have to make do."

"It's quite alright, Looker. I expect we'll be working together all hours of the day anyway, so might as well, hmm?"

She looked over the room once again, a kitchen stroke living room stroke dining area, and noted the three doors leading off of it. "Where will I be sleeping, if it's not too much of a pain for me to ask?"

"I'll go to the couch and you can have my room," I offered. "It's very small but very comfortable."

"Emma, that's kind, but -"

Looker was cut off by a wink from Jupiter's eye and a quick remark from her tongue. "Don't worry, girl. Mister Looker and I are very used to sharing a bed."

 _Oh my Arceus._  
"Ah, Emma! Why don't you, um, go, ah, make tea!" Looker babbled, shoving me away from the two of them and into the kitchen.

 _She's his ex!_

Jupiter perched demurely on the beaten couch and waited for Looker to sit beside her. When he did, she cuddled up to him and whispered something into his ear, causing him to turn even redder somehow.

 _Or, um, maybe not his ex._

"Jupiter, Jupiter, please, let's keep this professional," he muttered back. "Especially around Emma."

"Oh, leave her alone," Jupiter purred. "You and I have catching up to do, Looker. We've hardly talked in the past few years."

I switched the kettle on and growled to myself. This was not what Looker needed. He was going to go and get his heart broken, and then where would this mission be?  
"Jupiter, what kind of tea do you like? We have what Looker calls 'the normal kind' and peppermint," I said as sweetly as I could, turning back around to face them. Jupiter let go of Looker's arm and smiled, though definitely not kindly.

"Whichever is fine, doll."

Ooh, boy, I really didn't like that look in her eyes. I served them tea and moved out of their way as fast as I could. If this was going to turn into some kind of weird romantic thing I wanted to see as little of it as possible, thanks very much.

I couldn't quite believe it. Looker has probably had one girlfriend in his life and it somehow manages to be this beautiful (I'll give her that one - she's gorgeous), cruel woman who's utterly obsessed with him.

"Mimi," I groaned, plopping down on my bed and picking the small Pokémon up with one hand. "What do I do?"  
"Espurr!"

"Yeah, thanks for the advice."  
I flopped onto my face and decided I was going to have to keep them apart. Whatever history they had was history for a reason, right? I mean, detectives and criminals don't match up. There had to be a reason why they split.

Well, it was probably Jupiter's arrest. So breaking them up through bringing up past feuds was out.

Maybe it wasn't romantic, if I was lucky. Jupiter was just flirty and nothing had ever happened between them and they were just talking on the couch right now, no touching, no kissing, no nothing. Just friends - no, just work partners.

That was all.

* * *

After an hour of thinking and feeling sorry for myself Looker knocked on my door.

"Emma?"

"What?" I snapped without thinking, raising my head. "What do you want?"

"Oh, goodness, can I come in? I think there's some stuff I ought to tell you about Jupiter."

"Well, gee, yeah, you did miss a few key details. Like the whole ex-girlfriend thing," I muttered quietly as he entered the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

"Yes, well, it was complicated," he said as if that was the whole story. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure there's not any way you could possibly explain?'

"Well, I... Um..."

He paused to wipe a lipstick stain off of his cheek and sighed. "Emma, we did have something of a relationship, and I don't think it's appropriate for her to be behaving so flirtatiously with me around you - or at all. But we need her right now, so we're going to have to make the best of it."

"Yeah, well, she's kind of sneaky in my opinion. I don't think we can trust her," I said, smashing my face back into my pillow.

"I think we might be able to. She wants to take down Team Galactic as much as we do, you know."

"Yeah, sure. She probably just needs us to find out where she can sign up again."

Looker shook his head. "Emma..."

"Emma!" I mocked in a high-pitched voice. "I don't like Jupiter at all, okay? She has you totally under her spell. She could try anything and you'd hardly notice."

"Now, Emma -"

"Now, Emma!"

"Emma, stop that!"

"Emma, stop that!"

"Fine! Emma, I won't stand this kind of disrespect. You can consider yourself off the case if you hate Jupiter so much, okay?" Looker said frustratedly, standing up and brushing out the door. "I don't need this right now. There are more important things than your petty suspicions!"

"Is the brat being difficult, Looker, my love?" a sugary voice called. "Don't bother with her, sweetheart. Come here."

When I left my room to get a snack Jupiter and Looker were cuddled up on the couch, whispering and giggling like little kids who'd just learned a bad word.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Jupiter was the first one up, bustling around making coffee and smoking a cigarette before seven. I awoke soon after and trudged into the kitchen only to be met with a horrible smell that sent me into a minor coughing fit.

"Miss Jupiter, I don't think you should smoke in here," I choked out, dramatizing my coughs as much as possible. She laughed and leaned against the counter, a white mug filled with coffee in her left hand.

"Hmm, I don't recall little brats being able to tell me what to do," Jupiter said, putting her hand to her chin in mock-thought. "Doesn't ring a bell. So I think I'll do what I like. When does Looker usually get up?"

"Um, he's up pretty early most of the time," I told her. She smirked.

"Well, I might have tired him out."

I looked her up and down quickly, registering her shorts and tank top that was so short it might well have just been a bra. "Hmph. What are you trying to do with Looker?"

"I'm not trying to do anything," Jupiter said innocently, taking a final puff of her cigarette before smashing it against the counter. "But if he were to remember the old days, back when him and I were virtually unstoppable... Well, I wouldn't mind. And you wouldn't either, would you, brat?"

"I don't know about that, lady," I said nonchalantly, opening the cupboard just to the left of her head and taking out a strawberry Pop-Tart. "Maybe I'd think you're up to no good, or that you're not here to help at all. Mister Looker says that you want to take this team out as much as much as us, but I think that's a lie."

Jupiter gripped her cup of coffee so hard her knuckles turned white. "Oh, Emma, you stupid girl," she hissed, her face contorting into a mask of fury. "Team Galactic took everything away from me. If it were up to me, I'd want to see all of them dead. Do you understand?"

I narrowed my eyes at her, searching for a weakness but only catching an angry tear at the corner of her eye. "Fine. Maybe you're for real. Probably not. I don't think I trust you at all."

"Good. I don't care. Get Looker up so we can start on this case."

Looker wasn't very happy to be awoken early, but when he saw Jupiter he changed his tune and plastered a huge smile on his face.

"Good morning, fellow detective," he said jokingly. Jupiter, now sitting across from me at the table behind the counter, grunted.

Poor Looker. He's so easily crushed. He ducked his head and mumbled an apology, shuffling towards the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee from the kettle that had long gone cold. Jupiter didn't even look at him.

"Heya, Looker, we haven't done tutoring in a while. Can we, please?" I asked, breaking the stony silence that had fallen over the room. He shook his head and turned to me.

"Sorry, Emma, darling, but I'm afraid not. Jupiter and I have lots of work to do."

Jupiter grunted once more, this time in agreement. "Yeah. Lots of stuff. Go play outside or something, kid."

"Jupiter -"

"Fine," I interrupted, standing up and walking towards my room. "I'll visit Owen, then, if you want me out of here so badly."

"No, Emma, that's not what we -"

"Have fun!" Jupiter called, considerably cheered. She too stood up, but she made her way towards Looker instead and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm sure we'll be able to crack this, Looker."

* * *

"Gosh, what a pain in the neck."  
I sighed and kicked the wall. "I know. She's awful."

"Well, look on the bright side. This isn't a permanent thing," Owen said, looking back down at his battered book. We were hanging out in the alley a block away from the office, him spread out on the floor and me pacing around.  
"Yeah, but it still sucks. And Looker's so fragile. I don't think he could handle her playing around like this for that much longer."

"Maybe that's why they broke up in the first place," Owen suggested. I shook my head.

"She was a criminal. I think he had to arrest her, which tends to put a damper on any happy relationship."

"Well, I give up. Maybe it's not worth trying to solve this. Wanna have a Pokémon battle? Winner gets ten bucks!"  
"No thanks, Owen."

Owen was my best friend before Looker took me in. He didn't live in the alleys, but he might as well have, because he hardly ever went home and often spent his nights sleeping in hidden corners of the city. He was small and quiet with mousy blonde hair that hung limply at his ears, his huge green glasses a stark contrast against his pale skin. He sure didn't look like someone who roughed it often; in fact, he looked more like someone who'd never seen the light of day. Even though he's kind of a softie, we've been close for ages.

"Come on, Emma. You love to battle. What gives?"  
"I'm just really mad about this, yanno?" I said, crossing my arms. "Looker's never ignored the stuff I say like this. Why is she more important than me?"

Owen rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly. Mr. Looker loves you to bits. He just needs this lady's favor in order to get some information. It's gonna be over before you know it."  
"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Tell you what. I wanna go meet her. Can I come over?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure!" I said, feeling some of the weight on my stomach lift. "Let's go. They'll be buried in work, so we just need to be quiet and stay in my room or something."  
"Sounds good."  
The two of us weave through the alleys until we come to Looker's office.

"Hang on. Let's see if the coast is clear."  
The only window in the front of the building is nestled high up in the wall to keep out prying eyes (it is a detective agency, after all), but I hoist Owen up onto my shoulders and make him peer through. Years of fighting for myself have made me just a bit stronger than the average teenager.

"Um, okay, they're sitting at the kitchen table and they've got paper everywhere. Both of them look really upset. Holy heck, now Jupiter's yelling!"  
"What's she saying?" I said weakly, staggering under Owen's weight.

"Um, something I can't tell, another thing I can't tell, wait, crap, she's getting up! Quick, let me off!"

I drop Owen as fast as I can, stumbling to the side as I do. At the same moment, Jupiter opens the door and steps directly into me and Owen's path. Owen collapses onto her and I run into her, knocking her flat on the pavement.

"Ugh! What the hell are you doing?" she snapped, sitting up and glaring at us. "Were you spying the whole time? Little creeps."  
"No, ma'am," I said sarcastically, standing up and dusting myself off. Owen did the same, albeit with slightly less coordination.

"Hmph!"

The door to the office was thrown open by none other than a panicked Looker. He registered Jupiter on the floor, me looking bitter, and Owen looking guilty and came to an immediate conclusion.

"Emma! I can't believe you made Owen push Jupiter!" he exclaimed angrily. Me and Jupiter rolled our eyes. No-one ever said he was a _good_ detective.

"No, no, I didn't, sir, I swear!" Owen stuttered, going paler than he already was. "I was just, well, we wanted to make sure we weren't interrupting -"

"And to think that I saw you as a good influence! I can't believe this. I'm so disappointed!" Looker ranted.

"Please, sir, Mr. Looker, I didn't push her!"  
"So then who did?"  
"No-one, Looker. There's no need to get worked up," Jupiter said coolly, getting to her feet and crossing her arms. "Emma ran into me. That's all."  
"Well, why didn't you just say so! I'm very sorry, Owen. Uh, where is Owen?"  
Owen had disappeared, probably out of pure terror. I really don't blame him. Life at Looker's agency is usually way more hectic than he's ever prepared for.

"Whatever. I'm going to take a smoke break. See you later."

Jupiter turned and strode down the street, leaving me and Looker alone. He sighed and looked at me sadly.

"So, how was your morning, Emma?" he asked, leading me back into the house and sitting me down at the kitchen table.

"Fine. What did you and Jupiter get done?" I said, letting my eyes scan the papers scattered around the room.

"Not much. There's not a lot to go on, sadly, just what we've got from Interpol and what Jupiter knows from her limited communication with Saturn from a few years back. That's hardly anything. We don't even know if this has the possibility of being a major threat yet. Still, it's just the first day! We'll continue on with this and get to the bottom of it!" Looker said triumphantly, striking a ridiculously overconfident pose. I giggled.

"Oh, Looker. I know you will. But I just wanna know why you can't do it alone. You're good enough for that," I told him. He shook his head.

"No, not really. She's very valuable because she knows how Saturn thinks, as they were very close back in the day," Looker explained. "But I'm sure you guessed as much. Anyway, she wants this team gone as fast as possible for other reasons."  
"What kinda reasons?"  
"I'm not certain, but I believe it had something to do with her health after she quit. Or something. I don't know, Emma. It's not up to me to poke my nose into her past."

"I don't trust her," I mumbled.

"I do. Jupiter is passionate about this. Something tells me she lost a lot of direction in her life after Cyrus moved on to the Distortion World, or wherever he is now. I want to help her heal."  
I'd never heard Looker be quite so serious about anything like this, which was weird. Yet again he was displaying a concern like I'd never witnessed before. What made Jupiter so special to him?


	3. Chapter 3

Jupiter came home in the evening smelling like she'd smoked way more than just one cigarette.

"You shouldn't smoke. You'll kill yourself," I said. Yeah, it was obnoxious, but I wasn't really in the mood to be polite to her.

"You shouldn't comment on other people's business. You're just like Looker," Jupiter said snappily before burying her face in her hands. Looker shrank back from the table.

"Don't say things like that to Mr. Looker," I said, raising my voice.  
"Don't yell at me like you can boss me around. I'm the adult here, not you," she scolded, her voice dangerously low. "And maybe I have to put up with all this work and sleeping in the most uncomfortable bed I've ever been in, but I don't have to put up with this kinda thing from a kid like you, okay?"

"Girls, please," Looker said with a waver in his voice.

"God, don't call me girl! I'm not a kid!" Jupiter retorted.

"And neither am I!"

"Okay, fine," Looker said. He stood up and crossed his arms. "Girls, ladies, human beings, whatever. You need to be civil towards each other. Jupiter, this is more of a request than a demand, but Emma, for you, this is an order. The whole case is shaping up to be very stressful and the last thing I need is you two fighting 24/7."

Jupiter rolled her eyes. "She's acting like a child, Looker. She's deliberately trying to engage me in fights."

"Yes, and you're engaging too, aren't you?"  
Jupiter fell silent and I giggled.

"I know you're very passionate about this case, Jupiter. I encourage you to be polite, or I promise this will go a whole lot slower."

She sighed and crossed her arms. "Alright. I'll stop fighting with the girl."

"And I'll be nicer to Jupiter."  
Looker grinned and ruffled my hair. "Thank you. Now, Jupiter, I don't suppose you've ever tried the world-famous Looker special? It's Emma's favorite dinner."

I cringed. The 'world-famous Looker special' is just Looker combining every canned soup we haven't finished yet, but I always choke it down because it makes him so happy to 'cook'.

"I can't say that I have."

"Excellent! Well, I'll get busy in the kitchen. Be back here at 6:45 sharp!"

* * *

The next few weeks of casework were astoundingly boring. Jupiter and Looker spent half their days making boring-boring-boring phone calls off an enormous list of ex-grunts and the other half of the day drinking tea and complaining. I usually left right after breakfast to hang out with Owen and came home just before dinner, but one day it was raining and gross out, so I stayed in my room and listened to them talk.

"Hello. This is Detective Looker from the International Police and we'd like to ask you some questions. You are not in any legal trouble. This will be a survey about your experiences in Team Galactic - and they hung up."

"Ugh. I'm bored of calling."

"Me too. Have you been thinking about where Charon might have gone?"

My ears perked up. What on Earth was a Charon?

"It's been a few more weeks, right? So I guess he's gone to rejoin them. It's too suspicious that no-one's heard from him since he left jail."

Hmm, so Charon was a _who._

"Yeah. I was just thinking, well, what if he's actually acting alone?"  
Jupiter snorted, then paused.

"Y'know, I guess he could be. His ego is certainly big enough for that. But as science-y as he is, I doubt he has the resources and strength left to build up what Team Galactic once had. He's an old man now."

"But doesn't he have a lot of Silph Co. money left?"

"Maybe some of it, but that would only take him so far. He needs manpower in order to rebuild those crazy machines."

"Could he use Pokémon, though?"  
"Yeah, maybe. It would take way longer, and I can't be certain about the more intricate machines, but he could."  
"Well, I'll put it down as a maybe. Didn't we call that mechanic grunt? Maybe he'd know something about it."

"Yeah. Heh, if Charon did need people, he'd never be able to get them. He's as charismatic as a clod of dirt."

Both of them giggled.

"In all seriousness, though," Jupiter said after their laughter died down. "I'm just not sure. He might be in it for the fame, but Saturn has all the motive. He was second in command the whole time Galactic was up and running. The team was his everything and he worked his ass off. He'd probably love a taste of being properly in charge."

"Yeah. Poor guy."

Jupiter groaned. "Don't say that. Cyrus might have forced him to be evil, but he's still evil."

"What was he like before he joined?"

There was a long pause after that, presumably so Jupiter could think. She gave her reply a full minute later.

"I didn't know him before the team, so I can't say for sure, but he used to talk about his childhood when the company was basically just us two and Mars. His mom went missing for some time and was crazy religious when she was around. His dad was sort of distant, I think. He told us he was nineteen when he joined, but he was definitely not that old. He was probably seventeen, maybe even sixteen. He said once he had this boyfriend and that they were pretty happy, but he didn't say what happened. And then he said another time that he ran away from home to join us."

"Oh God."

There was the creaking sound of someone leaning back in one of our rickety chairs.

"I can't help but feel bad for him now," Looker said.

"If you wanna pity the queer runaways, start here, not with that asshole," Jupiter said. I detected more than just a little bitterness in her voice. "He's still _evil_ , Looker. Anyway, he had latched onto Cyrus at the beginning, but it just kept getting worse. It was kind of scary towards the end. Saturn was obsessed with him, through and through. He would be totally hysterical every time Cyrus told him off."

"So you told me."

"Once I said something sort of negative about Cyrus; it wasn't really that bad, because I was also sort of under his spell, so I think I said it was unfair we had to work a couple extra hours. Anyway, Saturn lost it, screaming at me and being all, 'how dare you insult Master Cyrus after all he's done for you' and stuff. Then he cried. It was just weird and sad."

"Arceus."

I opened my door and timidly poked my head out. Even though me and Jupiter were under orders to get along, I still sort of felt like she would start yelling at me at any moment. As predicted, she glared at me once she saw me.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"I've got an idea," I said. I looked at Looker for permission to continue, which he granted by way of a nod. "If Saturn was so crazy about Cyrus, and Cyrus is in the Distortion World, and Saturn is buying the same kind of generators from Flare that they used for the original portal -"

"Oh, holy _fuck_!" Jupiter yelled, standing up suddenly and sending papers flying everywhere. "I'm a fucking idiot. The girl's right. He doesn't want money or followers or any of that shit. He wants Cyrus!"

Looker looked at her, then at me, then back at her. "Do you really think so?"

"Of _course_. How did I not realize it? Looker, we've got to act fast. If they have any pieces of the Red Chain collected from when it broke before then we're toast. The original machinery took three weeks with the grunts working on it - it was just the lake spirits that took forever."

"And if Saturn only wants a human sized portal, not a big one to destroy the world or whatever, then he's probably got enough left!" I added excitedly. I was bouncing on the balls of my heels now, thrilled that I could actually contribute.

"Yes!" Looker said. He jumped up and grabbed my hands, hopping up and down with me. Jupiter was grinning, a real smile this time, not one of her cruel smirks.

Then her face fell.

"Wait. Why the hell are we celebrating? Looker, he's probably a week away from turning Sinnoh into a crater. Call InterPol."

"Oh, uh, right," Looker said. He dropped my hands and straightened his jacket. "I'll call now. We can have a raid on the building organized in two days now that we have a solid suspicion instead of just a hunch."

I rushed back into my room while the adults scrambled for the phone and grabbed Mimi off my bed. She squeaked nervously when she rested her head against my chest and felt how fast my heart was going.

"It's happening, Mimi," I whispered. "Me and Looker solved a big case. Team Galactic is done for."


End file.
